Lady Dragonrider: Yria's Story
by Thais of the Star
Summary: A girl from a Southern Sea Hold becomes the first female Brownrider, breaking all the rules about Impression and rank as she finds her place with the dragons of Pern.
1. A Shipwreck

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

Enjoy!

PS: Many of the poems at the beginning of the chapters are mine, so please don't steal them from me. I worked hard on them!

_Hissing fiercely, bright golden,_

_At child of Hold of Sea,_

_To keep her away_

_From clutch this day_

_The little queen flew futile-y_

Chapter One: _A Shipwreck_

Yria came to herself slowly; on her skin she felt damp, warm clothes, and warm sand, and warm sun, and a little bit of some warm liquid at her fingertips. Then, suddenly, memory returned and she sat up, startling a lovely, indistinct golden form away from the pile of sand at her side; she blinked, slowly. In the second of closed eyes what had happened flashed in her mind.

_For many hours she had clung to the piece of wood, part of her Sea Holders' ship's mast that she had been on, sent out to fish; before that, the storm that had killed…_ Yria didn't want to think about that, or the pain above her ear, where her fingers, exploring, told her that she had a deep cut. When her eyes opened, she blinked several more times, making sure she saw what she did: a tiny, perhaps four or five hand-spans long, golden dragon queen and a mound of tiny, sand-covered eggs.

But not a queen dragon; she was far, far too small. A wild fire lizard queen- _with eggs!_

Slowly, it dawned on Yria to sit up and look at the eggs; as she did so the queen squeaked, and lunged at her. From stories, she knew that by holding the dragon' cousins by their necks, they would be unable to bite.

In one swift movement, she reached out and grabbed with both hands; the queen could not get away, and to go _between_ she needed to free herself from the sixteen-Turn-old girl, tall and lanky in a graceful way, clutching her.

The southern-tanned girl felt rather guilty about manhandling the little lizard, but she wanted the eggs, very, very much. Not only would they be well appreciated and she would be welcomed back to Seawatch Sea Hold like a hero, but she would have a fire lizard of her very own, after Turns of envying, secretly, others miniature dragons.

Looking around swiftly, she saw a shirt washed up along with a tough wher-hide bag; the shirt served as something to wrap the struggling, clawing fire lizard in. As Yria used a wash-up strip of rawhide to hold the queen inside, a bronze and a green appeared; they made angry noises and disappeared _between_ somewhere.

Behind where they had been was a broken-off bluff; looking around as she used stiff fingers to tie the other end of the strip to a large clump of sea-grass Yria saw that there were many, many fire lizards there, though all much smaller than the queen, peering out from holes that riddled the bluff.

Finished with the gold fire lizard, she looked around again, and almost cried for joy; she thought could faintly see the large, half-rotten tree that she had always marked as an ideal place to hide out, so she was near her hold, not on some Iggen or Ista coast as she had feared. Would she have a story to tell when she got back to Seawatch Sea Hold! And she could bring fire lizard eggs.

Now she grabbed the carisack and gently put sand and the clutch into the bag, which was scarcely damp and wonderfully warm from the sun that blazed in a sky free from all clouds.

She counted as she set the hard-shelled eggs into the sack. A grand total of twenty-three fire lizard eggs were in her sack, surrounded by warm sand. Wincing, she quickly freed the queen, and raced away with the heavy sack in both hands before the fire lizard could orient herself and attack.

It was a good thing she had found a clutch of lizards. Seawatch Hold was short on the little beauties right now, for no one had been able to find time to go hunting for their nests.

Seawatch was small, about the size of the slightly-larger Cove Hold, and situated near the sea so that their watch-whers, who had been out of places to go and practice their magnificent talents, could go to the sea and converse with the dolphins.

Using telepathy and scientific instruments, the wher-handlers had worked with the scientists there to study things under the ocean. These scientists tried to have someone with a properly trained fire-lizard near by when they were working, but there was little time to go find clutches and then few fire-lizards. Even the few that were there would have been enough, but they were not all trained to fetch supplies, send messages or give warnings of some things.

The little creatures had been found to have a great sensitivity to watch-whers, and they were a great help in finding the dolphins they knew and asking them to contact the watch-whers they knew. Many wher-handlers had a lizard for little chores, and some just as pets and companions. Several were able to hunt fish for their ugly, nocturnal cousins, who had taken greatly to it when first introduced.

Yria thought until she realized that she was almost asleep on her feet and walking nearly in a trance. She also finally felt a bone-aching exhaustion from her many bruises from the shipwreck.

With a sigh she lay down on the sand, piling the carisack high with still-warm sand (it was by then late evening and the two moons were starting to rise) and fell asleep.


	2. Away

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

_And so she set out, with four eggs too,_

_Though no one yet knew to follow,_

_Well before the day all new,_

_To a large cavern all hollow_

Chapter Two: _Away_

She woke with water around up to her knees, and sprang up with a curse, scooping her eggs out of danger. Luckily the sand was warm enough to exchange, and the eggs still warm.

Around late afternoon Yria stumbled up to the open doors of Seawatch Sea Hold and limped inside, carefully toting her eggs in both hands still. She had not eaten in three days.

A decent meal, some sleep, much 'ooh'-ing, clucking on her foster-mothers' part, several herbal teas, and a general fuss later, the girl sat by the hearth fire in the bustling, noisy kitchen as she put together a reed basket and furs. As she did so, layering the sand, she spaced the eggs throughout.

Finished, she let the eggs get warm very close to the fire, then moved them farther away, and set a chair over then, on which she sat, and waited. When she found the Sea Holder, Calton, coming back from the harbor, Yria fell into step with him.

"Yes?" he asked, distracted.

"I'm Yria, sir. About the fire lizard eggs I found- I was wondering when I can move mine to-" abruptly she stopped; the Sea Holder had stopped walking and was looking at her, a look of incredulity in his eyes.

"_Your_ egg? Who ever said anything about you getting a fire lizard egg?"

This was very unfair, and she said reproachfully, "I found them, sir."

"You may have found them, but I, as Holder here, decide who gets them. Weol and Shom will have some; I will have one, Kilav"-his wife- "also, and Amat, Talukin, Yelmany, Viyriz, Yeln, Leit and Penit will get some. There will be no egg for you."

"But- I found them!" cried Yria.

"There will be no egg for you." he repeated with finality. Yria stared at him for a good while, numb and hurt; then each walked on in different paths. She knew what the girl Menolly had done many Turns ago an Half-Circle Sea Hold; she would do the same and hide away with fire lizards of her own. Forming plans for the future, she went back to tend the eggs one last time before leaving.

She knew of one perfect hiding spot. It had ventilation, holes that were invisible on the surface, for a fire, and one was just large enough for her head to fit through that she had covered with a movable stone.

In the cave, where walls were smooth from the underground stream that must have created it even before the first Settlers on Pern came, there was a decent space. This was just large enough for her to stand tall in and fit a seaweed and cloth bed, the already-scooped-out fire pit she had used before and the niche in the wall she used to store her things.

The entrance passageway was filled with water slightly at high tide, though it was shallow enough to wade in, and the hole by which she came and went was always unnoticed, hidden as it was by

She often went there, though no one knew it, to escape her chores. Moreover, it was close to the rotten log, a good landmark, and one close enough to get to easily, and to go to and from easily, but far enough to not be caught.

For first supplies, Yria planed, she would take fish, bread and _klah_, some blankets and three baskets of glows. If she needed anything else, she could make it, find it or take it from the Hold in the dead of night.

000

After two nights and days of sneaking, everything except glows into her new hidden home, she was ready. Yria stayed awake long into the night, then slipped out of bed, and took her prepared sack of clothes, and put her favorite boots on. Silently, she stole down the stairs, pausing only to take in hand two baskets of glows, shutters closed so as not to shed light.

The Hold doors were closed, but she slipped out a window; she would enter this way if she ever needed something from the Hold. Yria made her way down the beach; she knew it was low tide and she lowered the baskets of glows into the hole (by way of a hidden rope) after extracting one of them to light her way. Then she climbed down carefully one-handed, and was inside the tunnel to her cavern.

It was damp and grown with sea plants amid different shellfish, so she stepped carefully in the half-light of her glow. After a brief, damp up-hill walk, she found her room and opened the glowbaskets fully as she placed them in the natural niches in the walls.

Tiredly, she rearranged her things slowly and lit a large fire, and fell asleep in the furs with one hand resting on a basket of warm furs that held the four fire lizard eggs she had kept, as they rested near the fire.

She wondered what Calton would say when he discovered the missing girl and eggs, and smiled.


	3. Weyr Rescue

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

_Drummer, beat, and piper, blow_

_Harper, strike, and soldier go;_

_Free the flame and sear the grasses_

'_Till the dawning Red Star passes_

Chapter Three: _Weyr Rescue_

The food and last glows finally ran out after two days and nights in the cavern. Slowly, carefully, she moved the boulder over her 'look-hole' off, and took a glance round. Seeing no one, she traversed the damp tunnel and walked back to the Hold.

It struck her that she needed fresh meat for the fire lizards when they hatched, and she added that to the list of things to snitch from the kitchen; meat enough to sedate four hungry fire lizards, bread enough for several days, fishrolls for several days and assorted dishes and containers to keep her food in.

Entering by the window she had exited by, she crept to the kitchen and took her items, stowing them silently in a carisack she snitched from the wall.

The next day, Yria woke to the sound of something, a vibrating; opening her eyes she found that there were three fully-grown fire lizards sitting by her egg basket- a queen, a blue and two bronzes. They were humming, and staring intently at the basket. Trying not to scare them off, the girl sat up, pulled the whole basket toward her and carefully took out all but one blanket; the eggs were rocking!

One already had a crack in it; a talon was sticking out. All at once, the egg split and a tiny bronze fire lizard cried out his longing for food. Suddenly the girl moved and grabbed the meat, and the fire lizard; she talked to him and fed him at the same time and did the same to each of the others; after the bronze a brown hatched, then a golden queen and another brown.

After an exhausting round of feeding and talking, Yria and the four young fire lizards (the adults had disappeared _between_ sometime) curled up to sleep out the rest of the night.

In the early, misty morning, Yria and the fire lizards went out and own the beach to gather spiderclaws, and for the small fair of miniature dragons rockmites and fingertails. She spotted another queen, some greens and a few browns, bronzes and blues as they worked; when she judged the holder folk would be coming out soon, she hurried back to her cave with the marvelous four fire lizards she had Impressed.

000

As the next sevenday went by, Yria was hard pressed to supply the needs of two rapidly growing browns, a queen and a bronze fire lizard; not to mention herself. She also needed oil.

Almost every third night she trooped the long way back to Seawatch, took what she needed, withing reason so they would'nt suspect anything was gone and then tiredly limped back to her cavern. She forbade her new friends to come with her on these occasions, for she knew that they would likely rouse the holds' tame beasts.

In particular, the small brown she had decided to call Waveskipper loved to open jars of any kind, while bronze Shaon ate whatever Waveskipper left. Tayila, the golden queen, had a preference for _klah_, and larger brown Falie tended to break any crockery available. The time the former holder-girl had brought them, she had discovered their formidable talents regarding human kitchen items.

And there was Threadfall.

Yria stayed near her cave-house always; with Thread falling out of the patterns it had kept for many Turns she never knew when she would need to race for her shelter. Then, a little over two sevendays after the hatching, Yria failed to be on the alert.

The tall girl walked, a golden fire lizard on her shoulder, two browns playing a chasing game and a bronze gliding next to her, far past where she ordinarily roamed. She thought about what she might be missing, or escaping, by not being in the hold, and did not hear anything, which was exactly what was wrong.

Suddenly, all four of her friends cried out, eyes whirling, and took flight, startling Yria. "Oh, Shards, Tayila! Shaon, Falie! Waveskipper, get back here!" she called crossly after them. They came, almost bowling her over. The smaller brown Waveskipper and the queen sent her images of-

_Threadfall._

She whirled, almost losing her balance, and… there. On the horizon. A speck of silver. "Shells," she whispered, then broke into a dash for her little cavern, trailing squeaking fire lizards.

No matter how hard she ran, whenever she caught a glimpse of the menace that had plagued her world for millennia, leading edge was closer. She could _see_ the dragons now, flaming the silver strands out of the sky. Then, in a burst of fire-stone reek, a dragon materialized from _between_ and landed beside her.

The glistening green wings remained spread out as the rider cried out to her. "Get on girl, we can't waste time!" His words cut through Yria's paralysis, and she leapt up the huge forelimb, was grasped and pulled up to sit behind the rider-

and was aloft a-dragonback. "We're going _between_, now! Don't be scared- just hold on tight and cough three times! I'm taking you to Nais Weyr!"

Then it was cold, so cold that she almost forgot the coughs. _One… two… three…_ then they were over Nais, the dragon was landing and before she could gasp her thanks to the green rider or dragon, she was on the ground, being helped to a chair by a woman with a kind face.

"Well, what a sight you are to be sure, girl! Look just as bad as Menoly did when T'gran and Branth rescued _her_, though to be sure her feet were much worse than yours. You have a good pair of boots, to be sure, and- _oh!_" The blond woman started as Tayila then Shaon popped up behind her.

"I- I'm sorry," apologized Yria. "I'll tell 'em to go away…" Which she did, though as soon as they were gone, Falie appeared. "No, you too. Scat!" she said firmly.

"Don't tell me you have three lizards! That's mighty many for one child; though Menoly had that three-fold." the woman added. "Oh," she said as Waveskipper materialized over her head. "Four, is it? My word. Any more coming?" she teased the rescuee.

"Well, unless you can Impress a whole fair, even when they're adults and you rarely see them, no." Yria told the woman, who chuckled. "I'm… Calitryi," she added, using a fake name so the woman would not know who she was, or from where she came. "Or Caty. That's easier to use."

"Welcome to Benden Weyr, Caty. I'm kitchen help; you can call me Teatathsonly, or for less of a mouthful, Teal. Now, I expect that your Hold would be worried, so we'll send a sweep rider to tell them you've been safely-" Teatathsonly started, but 'Caty' shook her head.

"No- no, I'm fine. You don't need to trouble."

"Are you sure?" Teal asked concernedly.

Eventually, Yria convinced her that she was fine; she could tell them herself when she got back to Seawatch. Maybe she could even stay for a while? She was a good cook, and she could help Teal in the kitchens. It was true she knew mainly fish recipes, but she knew a couple of ways to cook wherry that she believed were unique to her Hold and the Weyr might like.

Finally, Teal doused her with felis juice, and Yria fell asleep.


	4. Acquaintances

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

_Now, dragonrider,_

_Talk soft, and kind;_

_Show all that is the Weyr_

_To who, in Fall, you did find_

(By me)

Chapter Four: _Acquaintances_

When Yria woke from a felis-doused sleep, she felt quite recovered from her exhausting run for cover. She remained in bed, reminiscing on the last few hours she remembered. Most of it was a blur; a terrified headlong dash from thread, the green dragon and her rider rescuing the young woman, the bone-numbing chill of _between_, her arrival, then Teatathsonly, or Teal, then sleep.

Oh, blessed sleep.

But the fire lizards! She sat bolt-upright in the bed she was in, wearing a nightshirt, startling bronze Shaon off her leg with a squeak, and making Tayila rustle her wings and scold her from her perch on the headboard.

"So, Calitryi, you wake." said a voice. The speaker walked in from outside the door to the small room. It took Yria to remember 'Catys'' story and name, then the man who stood in the doorway.

"Y- yes, rider," she stammered. "And thank you, very much, for-"

"Ah, I was just doing my job." he said, waving a dismissive hand. "My name is Sh'voal, rider of green Avaelath. Teal has already told me your name, of your little beasties and how you wish to cook for us for a while." he added as Yria opened her mouth to introduce herself to the man who had saved her life.

"Oh," she said instead.

"Though she neglected these lizards' names. _Have_ you named them yet?" asked Sh'voal, looking around to see the browns Waveskipper and larger Falie zip into the room. The supposed Caty grinned as he ducked in mock fright as Shaon gently winged over to inspect him, and introduced the four to Avaelath's rider.

As she said the names, pointing to show the dragonrider which she meant, each made a sign in turn; a nod, a full bow or a spread-winged outcry.

Yria then tried to get out of bed, but stumbled slightly on rather sore feet and legs. "Easy, now. Shall I escort you to the necessary, fair lady?" asked the green rider with a gallant bow, then offered her his arm. "You must be bursting." He looked so comic that Yria had to smile and laugh.

After a while, the two became quite friendly, discussing, oddly enough, the things Yria would need to make the now-required colored bands to put on the fire lizards, with Glory, Sh'voals' own blue as a patient example. He was rather larger than other blues; indeed, almost the size of a brown lizard.

They agreed that she should have the Seawatch Sea Hold colors though she was going to stay in Benden Weyr, but while Sh'voal thought they should have the regular neck-bands, Yria wanted harnesses, ones that had a loose band beach behind the forelegs, and also an even looser one around the neck, with a band connecting them over the chest. She thought that they would look quite decorative.

It was only when Teal came with a tray of food for 'Caty' and remarked dryly that green Avaelath's color could pass for a bronzes if she waited much longer for her weyrmate to take her to feed, that Sh'voal excused himself hastily, apologizing the whole way.

"He might be a little neglectful occasionally, but his heart's in the right place." Teal chuckled along with her charge.

000

The next days dissolved into flurries of cooking, making up recipes and trying out old, half-remembered ones, tasting, serving, butchery, plucking and all manner of other food-related chores for Yria. She also fed, bathed and oiled her four, as well as introduced them to the folk of the weyr who had none, and those with fire lizards, and learned her way about Nais.

Indeed, by the second sevenday, she was better acquainted with the dragonriders and the Weyr than she was with her foster-mother and own Hold. If anyone was puzzled how at ease she was away from home for so long, they did not mention it to her; she would not have been able to tell them. Yria knew most of Starwatch Sea Hold would believe her dead of Threadscore or know her taken to Nais Weyr.

Somehow, she didn't quite feel right about being there, even if she did earn her keep. It just wasn't right, deceiving these people, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them the truth.

Little did she know that, without her knowledge, Sh'voal reported to Seawatch anyway.

000

"Calitryi? Never heard of her." Calton thought back, but the name was unfamiliar.

"You may know her as Caty," the green rider told him. "That's what she said her nickname was."

"No, not Caty either." The Sea-Holder scratched his beard, but he had never heard of the lass Rider Sh'voal was telling him about.

Puzzled, the greenrider asked him to find out if anyone knew a girl by either name, and Calton agreed. Mounting Avaelath, Sh'voal wondered why the child was misleading them. He sat on his green, lost in thought, until she had to remind him that they were going between now, and that it might be a good idea to close his riding jacket he had opened in the warm southern air.

He did tell his Weyrleaders he had visited Seawatch, but said that the Sea-Holder had told him that Yria was to choose for herself. Sh'voal didn't want to spoil whatever she was up to, but he kept a close watch on her all the same.


	5. Subtle Preparations

**_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.**

_**Rise high in glory,**_

_**Bronze and gold.**_

_**Dive together;**_

**_Your Weyr make bold._**

_**Count three months and more,**_

**_And fire heated weeks,_**

_**A day of glory and**_

_**In a month, who seeks?**_

**_Note_: I have recorded the time between a queens' flight, the laying of her clutch, the time on the sands of the Hatching Grounds and Impression as I see them from the song above. My translation is: mating flight, three months until the dragon-queen lays her clutch, five weeks on the Hatching Grounds, then one month more until Impression day. If you have any thoughts that I am wrong as to these points, feel free to give me a review as to this. (I am also open to any criticism as to the variance of spellings between myself and Anne McCaffery)**

**Chapter Five: _Subtle Preparations_**

**_Do you think she really is?_ Sh'voal asked his green dragon. Avaelath replied that of _course_ she was a good candidate to Impress; she already had four fire lizards, cousins of the dragons, so why couldn't she Impress the queen?**

**_Oh, fine. But I don't think we should tell her. We'll have Teal give her a white gown, like the ones the prospective weyrlings will be wearing, and tell her and the Weyrleaders that she is a suitable candidate; you know how shy she is, and she seems to be torn between Half-Circle and Benden. Then I'll lead her onto the grounds, and tell her to stand with the other girls with the queen egg; then just she might Impress._ Neither mentioned both knew that the other knew that if she did Impress, there was no way Sh'voal and Calitryi could be weyrmates.**

**000**

**About seventeen sevendays before the Threadfall in which Yria had been found, the senior queen of Nais, Aeontellais' Tilardith, had been flown by Th'nayoins' Ligolenath, to no ones' surprise. The supposed Caty had barely missed her laying the clutch of twenty-nine, but now there were a mere day or two until Hatching, and Yria was to be there.**

**She thought how some of the snotty holdergirls would turn red with fury if they could know that Yria, reduced to almost a drudge, was to witness a _Hatching_! A Nais Weyr Hatching! There was a queen egg too. And it was a good thing, for one of the junior gold dragons' rider had missed a clump of Thread with her flamethrower, and another junior had flown right into the patch face-first.**

**Now, Yria wondered who the rider of the new queen would be. Vaguely, she thought she might Impress… but no. She would have been told if she had. Besides, four fire lizards were more than enough for her, and she had no wish to explain to a recently hatched dragonet that she was leaving almost as soon as the Hatching was over.**

**She still knew that, if she returned to her Hold rather thatn to her cavern, she must find a watch-wher- her father, mother, foster-mother and brother were all wher-handlers, and she would be expected to follow in their path. Still, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to have one of those ugly, malformed, nocturnal draconic creatures bonded to her. To have a dragon, to fight thread, to ride the winds on the back of a magnificent golden beast… it would be a dream come true.**

**Then she began thinking realistically again. She hasn't been Searched; she had been rescued. Even if she had been Searched, she wasn't sure she truly wanted to Impress a queen. Far to often she had heard in the Weyr how gold and green riders had no choice when their dragons rose to mate as to what the rider of the male dragon who flew their female one would do.**

**Yria knew she wanted more control than that when it came to such things.**

**As soon as the last dragon-child had Impressed, she would be on her way away from Benden and back to her room. She had to slip away and forget the Weyr. Especially Sh'voal, whispered her mind, but she pushed the thought away. Sh'voal was a friend she had made; now, like so many other friends, he would be gone from her life.**

**At last, the very next day, Weyrwoman Aeontellai sent out the call to gather the guests for the Hatching and Impression, and of course the feast. Yria helped cook, prepare, taste and all manner of other things she could do in the kitchen.**

**When, at last, the humming of the dragons came to announce the Hatching, it sang a bittersweet melody to Yria. It heralded the first, and likely only, Impression she was to see, yet at the same time it also called her to remember her promise to herself to leave after the last two dragon-rider pair had Impressed.**

**Makin, the headwoman down here in the lower caverns, turned everyone loose to get seats. Yria just joined the throng of people as they hurried toward the hatching grounds in the white garment she had been given by the headwoman.**

**"Caty! CATY! Over here!" someone roared. The young woman turned to see Sh'voal waving an arm over his head. "We're the one's to bring you." he continued as he reached her. "Come with me and Avaelath. When we drop you off, don't follow the others, understand? Look for the girls with white dresses on and do what they do, and go with them." The green rider imparted all this to Yria as the pair struggled over to his emerald dragon.**

**When dragon and his rider dropped her off on the hot sands, she followed his instructions, and joined a loose semicircle around-**

**_Ramoth's golden egg._**

**Oh, what nice job that sly one had done, making sure no one told her, setting it up so very delicately. He wanted her to Impress the queen! She glared at the retreating green and her rider, neither who paid her any attention.**

**She thought that perhaps she could live out her dreams after all. But where did that leave Sh'voal? They both would have female dragons, so there would be no chance of them ever-**

**Abruptly, she clamped down on that thought. She would not even try to Impress, and she would be free to leave the Weyr and return to her cavern.**

**But somewhere deep in her mind she knew that Sh'voal would never leave her heart. Unless…**

**No. Her fire lizards would be with her, and his green would be with him in Nais Weyr. There would be no chance for her browns or bronze to catch his little green when she rose to mate.**

**A sudden crack; Yria turned. It had heralded the arrival of the first dragonet, a brown. Then a green hatched, two bronzes at once, and a blue, bronze and green simultaneously. Then one of the girls cried out; the golden egg had cracked.**

**And for each of the girls, along with her the chance of, perhaps, once in a lifetime.**


	6. Brown Surprise

Disclaimer: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

_On the Hatching sands of the Weyr,_

_Among hides of brown and green,_

_Hidden behind blues and bronzes,_

_Rises glorious one golden queen._

Chapter Six: Brown Surprise

Three of the young women instantly tried to attract the attention of the queen, racing to get to her head, but she knocked them aside, spilling them left and right. Then a tentative blond tried to Impress her, and was hissed at.

Yria saw the ugly, overlarge head swing toward her, and met the rainbow eyes with her own.

Then, in a swift movement, an imperious and self-important girl reached out lightly and touched the dragonet's neck, diverting the queen's chosen Impression. Their eyes met, and Impression was made. "Oh, I know, Cairith. Let's get you some food, shall we?" she asked.

Yria watched them go, trying to decide whether to feel angry over the interference, relieved because her plan would still work or sorrowful at the loss of a dragon. She had almost Impressed! Then that girl had to force the Impression away, in her favor!

Do not be sad! a voice told her, at the same time as a brown dragonet butted at the back of her knees, causing her to sit down sharply. The dragonet walked unsteadily around until their faces were on the same level. I am Diaath, he said. And I am hungry! he added.

And so she became the first person in the history of Pern to Impress a dragon whose gender was opposite hers.

But, really, what did it matter that the gleaming wet hide was brown, not a shimmering gold?

What did it matter that Diaath was a male, when his rider was female?

"Alright, Diaath. Let's get you fed," Yria sighed, kneeling to scratch her dragons' ears

000

"A brown dragon with a girl for a rider?"

"-never been a female brown rider, not even when females could Impress dragons; they always were paired with greens, like young Mirrim! And greens are female also!"

"Her Diaath is so large, he could be a bronze!"

These were only some of the grievances heard of in Hold, Weyr and Crafthall over the next few months, as the first male-female dragon and rider pairing was heard of throughout Pern. Through it all, Yria stayed firm to the Impression, and learned many useful things about dragons, riders and other Weyrfolk.

She had a very small house to herself, a small, unused Weyrling barracks, because she was female, which did not seem to register to Diaath. They had Impressed, just like any other dragon and rider pair, so why were they treated differently? Other things she had to explain were the necessity of privacy, which the dragons did not seem to have a use for.

000

Yria had grown up; she was now about nineteen Turns old; indeed, her brown was a mere few sevendays away from being told to fly against Thread and they had moved to a proper weyr in Nais.

Sh'voal's Avaelath had not risen to mate until now, four Turns after her hatching, and two after the inadvertent Impression of Yria –whose true identity was no longer a secret- and Diaath. Often Sh'voal had dreams –nightmares, really- of the outcome of his green's mating flight. Though he knew he would likely come to love the rider of the dragon who flew his dragon, but loving another male was a strange idea to him.

Avaelath was, as all greens, unable to lay eggs from her long defense of Pern by flaming with fire stone. As all the dragons of her color, though, she still flew to mate every few Turns. She was quite due for her first mating flight, that Sh'voal had been dreading. But, at last, she did rise.

Sh'voal and his green Avaelath were lounging on the Star Stones. The four-Turn-old dragon seemed agitated, but she could give no apparent reason for it when her rider asked. Almost falling asleep, Sh'voal became aware that the emerald creature was shuddering slightly. Then, without warning, she stood, unfurling her wings and dislodging the human leaning against her forepaw.

She gave a great cry, and the green rider got to his feet. "Avaelath, no! Where are…" his voice trailed off as realization struck. She was gliding down swiftly to the feeding grounds, where she killed a fat buck, and sucked the animal dry of blood. Then she dispatched a wherry, sucking its lifeblood too. Avaelath kept all other dragons at bay as she drank, mystifying her rider by her greed.

Then, like the sudden cold of between, it hit Sh'voal. His green sucking blood, glowing almost, and-

with a roar that echoed around the Weyr, the dragon took off, flying as she had never before, and her helpless rider's mind was drawn with her. He had just enough of his mind left to feel some other dragon and rider bringing him down into the Weyr to find the outcome of his and his dragons' first mating flight.

And suddenly Sh'voal, though it was more Avaelath who realized it, why kind fate had given Yria a brown dragon while he Impressed a green.

A green who might be caught by the young woman's brown. The brown of the woman, who, if he was honest with himself, he loved. How kind was fate to bring him this gift!

000

Yria sensed –no- she felt- her large brown dragon rise into the air. She stopped, and let the dish she was washing slide into the sink. Avaelath and Diaath? A mating flight? She dashed out and onto the Weyr Bowl, racing to be with Sh'voal, because he would need her support the support of a friend.

But no, she realized as she slowed to avoid crashing into the green rider. Not a friend, now. Now, as their dragons fell together, now the rider of his dragons' mate. Now his weyrmate, she realized as they were escorted to the man's weyr before passion fully overcame them.

000

Slowly, cautiously, Yria opened her eyes. She met Sh'voal's, who carefully, slowly, almost timidly reached over in his bed to brush away a few strands of hair from her face. A look on his face, as if afraid he might frighten her yet still loving and tender, made the sole female brown rider catch her breath. Carefully, she put her own hand on his as it rested on her cheek, also a bit unsure.

"Yria- I- I'm sorry. I never meant-" he stopped, then went on. "But I think, even… even if my Avaelath hadn't-" he cut short the whisper, then took a deep breath, which seemed odd in a man lying down. "Yria, I-" she put her hand against his mouth.

"I know. I- I think it's all right," the brown rider said. "Right?" she asked anxiously.

His relieved smile behind her fingers and his eyes told her everything she needed to know about how very different their friendship would be from now on.


	7. First Flight

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the world of Pern. I do, however own many of the characters in this story.

_Wheel and turn_

_Or bleed and burn;_

_Fly _between

_Blue and green!_

_Soar up, dive down,_

_Bronze and brown!_

_All dragonriders fly_

_When Thread is in the sky._

Chapter Seven: _First Flight_

The order came after two more sevendays for Yria and Diaath to fly the next Threadfall, about a day later. The young woman was ecstatic; she would prove what women could do. Oh, sure, the queens got to fly Thread, and Mirrim with her green Path, but never in the history of Pern had a brown with a female rider battled Thread!

For Yria, the true triumph would come when she at last could feed her dragon fire stone, and see the silver strands shrivel under Diaath's scorching breath, and show the doubters of Pern that she was a true dragonrider. Sh'voal was happy for her and told her, though he wished he could be in her wing with her to see her face when her dragon let loose the first belch of flame that could make a difference to the survival of the world and its people.

000

Slowly, silently the Fall began. Yria waited on her brown, having just fed him several globs of fire stone. In a sudden movement the wings moved forward, and each dragon belched out the flaming gasses to shrivel the silvery Thread. Diaath roared as his patch disintegrated, and both he and his rider grinned recklessly to see the ancient enemy fall as harmless char.

As the brown ducked a large clump of Thread a bronze dragon swooped down to singe it. Yria gave Diaath more fire stone, and he flamed at a very small patch. Time and again she fed the stone; time and again her dragon flamed; time and again they maneuvered swiftly through the Fall. Hours passed, and Yria began to think that this was not quite as exciting as she had presumed it would be, when a burning pain seared through Yria's arm. Diaath roared as the rest of the Thread that had scored her buried itself in his wing. Instantly they were _between_, then above Benden.

The brown dragon cried piteously as they awkwardly landed, and Yria jumped of his neck to see the injury. A woman came rushing toward her, two small pots of numbweed in her hands. She gave one to Yria, and then slathered the affected wing from her own and the female rider nodded her thanks and set to work on her own.

She reassured Diaath, who had yet to stop keening, telling him that it didn't seem bad, that the numbweed would take away the pain. Another woman came with bandages and the three of them fixed the brown's wing. "I don't think he'll be able to fly for a while, Yria. At least four sevendays, maybe more. Wing skin is awful to re grow, and the Tread nicked the bone deeply to; that will take even longer." Teal told the eighteen-Turn-old dragonrider; it was she who had brought the numbweed. "And you're scored yourself! Here, let me put some salve on that." Which she did.

Avaelath crooned anxiously when she saw her weyrmates' wounds, her eyes whirling. Sh'voal had nearly the same expression on his face when he checked to see that his own weyrmate was all right. He had the attitude of a dragon on her first clutch, and Yria told him so dryly that he had to grin. The green rider kept asking to see if she was alright.

In the end, it was a good thing that the double weyr now shared by Diaath and his weyrmate and their riders was very close to the ground and the Bowl; the flightless dragon had less far to go to reach his food, escorted by a worried green with two aboard. He had some trouble getting fast enough on the ground to grab his food, but eventually he mastered it, though he still preferred to hover-and-snatch rather than run-and-claw-down.

000

It was a matter of pride to Yria that she didn't ride any dragons besides Avaelath and her own brown. Besides, she stayed in Sh'voal's weyr most of the time now, and didn't need to go anywhere a-dragonback, and especially _between_. Between was the coldest place known, able to cause voluntary or involuntary abortions to women who rode dragons, so it was not the shock it could have been, when Yria stayed in the weyr even after Diaath's wing finally healed, she said to give him time re-train the wing.

After a month in the weyr, Yria called for the weyrhealer, who told her she was pregnant with Sh'voal's child.


End file.
